STRYHAS ADVANCES TO SECOND ROUND OF QUALIFYING AT THE ALL-AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS
10/6/2008
TULSA, Okla. - Sacramento State junior Anton Stryhas won his first-round match over North Carolina State’s Christian Welte (3-6, 6-2, 6-4) in the first round of qualifying at the ITA All-American Men’s Tennis Championships today at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center on the University of Tulsa’s campus.
Stryhas, who was playing his first match of the tournament, is the reigning Big Sky Conference MVP after posting a school-record 22-1 dual-match singles record last spring. Stryhas remains the only Sacramento State men’s tennis player in school history to advance as far as the second round of the All-American Championships qualifying round (he also accomplished the feat in 2006). The ITA All-American Championships is the premier hard court event of the fall collegiate season and features the top players in Div. I.
Stryhas will now take on No. 3 seed Rudolph Siwy of Fresno State tomorrow afternoon at 7 a.m. PST. A total of 128 players are competing in the qualifying round with only 16 advancing to the main draw, which is set to take place Oct. 9-12.
Sophomore Kiryl Harbatsiuk was the only other Hornet to reach the qualifying round, and he fell in heartbreaking fashion today to Texas Tech’s Gonzalo Escobar, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3). Harbatsiuk advanced to qualifying after becoming one of just 16 players to advance out of the 256-player prequalifying field over the weekend.
Stryhas will be pressed into double duty, as he and Harbatsiuk will play their first-round qualifying doubles match tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. against Texas Tech’s Sinisa Markovic and Escobar. They will try to become the first Sacramento State tandem to ever win an All-American Championship doubles qualifying match. A total of 64 doubles teams are competing at the tournament, with eight tandems advancing to the main draw, set to begin on Oct. 9.
TULSA, Okla. - Sacramento State junior 
